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CIHM/ICMH 

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Lea  imagee  suivantea  ont  «t«  reproduites  avec  le 
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eonformiti  avec  las  conditions  du  contrat  de 
fiimage. 

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orlginaux  sont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  la 
premiere  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'Impreeaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  svmboles  sulvants  apparaitra  sur  la 
damlAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  seion  le 
caa:  fe  symbols  — »>signifie  "A  SUIVRE ',  le 
symbols  V  signifle  "FIN". 

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film^e  i  dee  taux  de  rMuction  diffirents. 
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de  I'angie  supArisur  gauche,  de  gauche  k  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bee.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
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AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


r 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  THE  STODY  OF  SOURCES. 


BT 


GJIOEGE  PARKER  WINSHIP,  A.  M. 


(From  the  Aimnal  B«port  of  the  Amerioan  Hlatorio»l  Assoeiation  for  1807,  pages  81M1.) 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING    OFFICE. 
1898. 


'  7ri:'^*>,' *''',"•■  '"*-V'7';  »  'S",!^" 


AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  THK  STUDY  OF  SOURCES. 


BY 


GEORGE   PAKKEIJ   WFNSITIP,  A.  M. 


(KnuM  fl,..  Animal  Report  of  fl,..  Am..ri,an  HiHioriml  Association  f,.r  18i.7,  pages  35-41.) 


WASHINGTOX: 

OOVERXMKNT     PRINTIN<!    OPFICR. 
1  .-'. !)  S  . 


r 


i 


- 


I 


IV.-JOHN  CABOT  AND  THE  STUDY  OF  SOURCES. 


By   GEORGE    PARKER   WINSHIP,  A.  M. 
rjiOVIUKXC'E,  R.  I.  '  ' 


35 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  THE  STUDY  OF  SOURCES. 


By  GEOK(iE  Pakkeu  Winsiiip. 


The  North  Ainerioan  cojitiuent  was  discovered  by  Jolm 
Cabot,  who  had  a  son  Sebastian,  before  the  10th  of  Anf,nist 
1497.  lu  the  foUowing  spring,  of  1498,  Join.  Cabot  was  autlior- 
ized  to  continue  his  explorations  on  behalf  of  Kngland,  and 
there  are  reasons  for  believing  that  an  expedition  to  the  new 
western  world  was  undertaken  under  his  direction.  What  are 
the  sources  of  our  information  in  regard  to  the  details  of  tliese 
two  voyages? 

The  earliest  printed  reference  to  the  discovery  made  by 
Cabot  was  published  half  a  century  after  the  date  of  the 
voyage.    Some  yeais  earlier,  in  1510,  Peter  Martyr  published 
an  account  of  a  voyage  by  a  Cabot,  and  this  account  was 
reprinted,  circuhited  widely,  and  was  freciueutly  copied.    Other 
accounts,  giving  various  details  of  a  voyage  by  Cabot  to  the 
north  and  west,  were  published  by  Kamusio,  an  Italian  corre- 
spondent of  Sebastian  Cabot;  by  Richard  Eden,  who  knew  the 
younger  Cabot  intimately;  by  Gomara,  Oalvano,  Oviedo,  and 
by  others  who  were  not  only  contemporary  with  Sebastian 
Cabot,  but  who  lived  in  the  same  places  and  moved  in  the  same 
professional  circles  with  him.    During  the  second  half  of  tliis 
sixteenth  century  the  Englisli  chroniclers,  Grafton,  Holiushed 
Fabyao  and  Stow,  Uakluyt  and  Herrera  published  accounts 
of  the  Cabot  voyage,  several  of  which  contain  statements  that 
do  not   occur  elsewhere.      All  of  these  writers  were  well 
acquainted  with  men   who    had    been  associated  with  the 
younger  Cabot.    The  books  which  they  published  are  the 
authority  for  a  large  part  of  what  has  been  written  about 
the  periods  of  which  they  treat. 

The  statements  in  these  printed  books  often  diflfer  materially 
from  one  another.    Not  one  of  the  writers  describes  more  than 

37 


88  AMKRICAN    HISTORICAL   ASSOCIATION. 

a  siu};!.-  voyaj-o  by  (^ubot  to  th«  nortl.west,  and  tho  (les.Tip. 
ti.H.s  «ivei.  i.n,  often  ...utually  iinpossibh'.  Not  ..no  ol  th.M.i 
n-ports  that  Sebastian  ever  spoke  of  any  voya^*'  ukuU;  by  hi8 
father.  Henee  it  has  been  .le.lnce.l  that  Sebastian  was  a 
braiTKart  an.l  a  liar,  who  i^-rsistently  strove  to  s,.enre  tor  hnn- 
sell  the  eredit  of  his  father's  aehii'venients.  An.l  theret.ne, 
to  eon.ph'te  the  ar-ntnent,  it  is  stated  that  Sebastian  never 
a..hieve.l  anythinfj  of  i.nportanee  by  himself,  an.l  that  ho  was 
not  ('..nipetent  to  a.-.'.)niplish  anythinij;. 

The  .lireet  e..nne.ti..n  with  th.'  Cab..ts  eeases  after  K.OO. 
For  the  next  tw..  hnn.lred  years  their  .lis.-overy  is  Ire.iuently 
mentioned  by  suceeeding  v..yagers,  by  hist..rians,  and  by  ser- 
u,oni/er«.  O.cash.nally  ..ne  of  th.^se  v.'ntnr.-d  to  draw  s.)ine 
iulcren.-e  from  th.-  .M.nfusion  ..f  the  ea.li.-r  wri  ers,  but  th.' 
impression  which  this  .-onfusion  made  upon  students  and  the 
nublie  was  fairly  state.l  by  Uurke  in  17o7,  when  he  wrote: 
"We  (Knglish)  d^'iive  our  rights  in  .^.raerica  from  the  dis.-ov- 
«ry  by  Sebastian  Calmt,  *  *  »  but  the  particulars  are  lu.t 
k.H.wn  distinctly  en.mgh  to  eucourage  me  to  enter  into  the 
details  of  his  v.iyage." 

The  confused  tangle  which  had  gr.)wn  out  of  the  earlier 
printed  narratives  has  been  cleared  away  by  the  tin.ling  .»t 
manuscript  sour.-es,  re.-.)vered  from  the  storelu.uses  ot  docu- 
n.entary  n.aterial.    The  tirst  <.f  these  sources  was  n^ue  known 
bv  Kicbard  Ui.ldle,  a  IMttsburg  lawyer,  wh..  printed  in  18.JI 
a  d..cumeut  which  proved  that  there  had  been  two  Cabot  voy- 
Moes  of  discovery.    A  few  years  later  l{awd..n  lirown  found  lu 
t'^ice  a  letter  written  from  London  in  1497,  which  describes 
the  etVe.-t  produced  by  the  return  of  Cabot  in  August  ot  that 
year.    Uawdon  Brown  in  Italy,  and  Bergenr.)th  in  Spain,  car- 
ried on  the  search  tor  hist..ric  manuscript  material,  and  by 
1870  a  half  do/.en  letters  and  otlicial  reports  had  been  lound 
dited  in  Ul)7  and  1498,  in  which  Cabot  is  mentioned,  and 
which  repeat  some  of  the  current  gossip  about  bis  voyages 
nd  his  future  plans.    Besides  the  public  and  !>•-.  e  a-hives 
and  record  ollices,  search  was  made  m  manus.^npt  etter  b..oks, 
ivy  purse  and  other  account  books,  files  of  court  and  munic- 
pal  records,  and  similar  sources  of  historical  int..rmat  on 
F  om  these  have  been  recovered  a  good  many  relerences  to 
Ihe  two  Cabotsin  Italy,  England,  and  Spain     l^^r    he  mo 
nirt  these  give  little  m.)re  than  a  uame  and  a  date,  but  this  s 
enougb  to  establish  the  whereabouts  of  the  Cabots  at  specihc 


JOHN  CAUUT  AND  THE  STUDY  OF  SOURCES. 


39 


1>« 


riods,  !iii<l  ofteiitinu's  this  deteriiiinos  the  trustworthiiieas  of 


t 


otlier  more  geiuTiil  accounts  of  their  doings.  Taken  together, 
tliey  I'nrnish  a  hody  of  evidence  sonietinies  very  sinniticant, 
eapable  of  bointf  ust'd  in  the  forniiition  of  un  estimate  of  the 
tdianicter  of  tlie  younger  Cabot. 

.hist  as  a  single  document  found  in  tlie  liondoii  record  ollljie 
in  isao  luoved  that  tliere  was  no  lon;;er  any  need  of  crowdinj; 
all  tlie  events  of  theCabotian  story  into  tlie  course  of  a  single 
voyage,  so  the  finding  of  an  old  map  in  the  library  of  a  Bava- 
rian curate  in  I8i.5  gave  us  a  direct  statement,  apparently 
nuide  by  Sebastian  Cabot  himself  in  l."»44,  crediting  his  father 
witii  the  discovery  of  Nortli  America.  Similarly,  within  a  few 
months,  some  memoranda  of  the  customs  collectors  in  old  Bris- 
tol have  been  found  among  the  Westminster  muniments,  which 
are  said  to  prove  that  -lohu  Cabot  was  in  England  in  the 
autumn  of  115)8  or  14!)i>.  Before  the  discovery  of  this  manu- 
script no  mention  of  tho  existence  of  John  Cabot  after  the 
departure  of  the  expedition  in  the  spring  of  U1)S  had  been 
known.  Hence  it  had  been  inferred  by  nearly  every  writer 
upon  the  Cabots  that  the  father  died  before  that  expedition 
returned,  so  that  all  the  glory  of  that  voyage  descended  upon 
his  son.  If  John  C-abot  was  alive  iu  England  in  14!M),  a 
considerable  portion  of  all  that  has  been  written  about  the 
(Jabots  loses  its  value  as  a  statement  of  truth,  but  its  value 
is  correspondingly  increased  to  the  student  of  how  history  is 
made. 

iMr.  Biddle  found  the  explanation  of  the  printed  accounts  iu 
the  'nanuscrii»t  sour(;es,  lie  was  also  the  lirst  to  interpret  t  hese 
sources  of  Cabotian  history;  to  erect  inferential  structures  out 
of  the  presumptions  whicdi  might  be  drawn  from  these  sources. 
As  it  seems  to  nie,  the  most  important  piution  of  the  whole 
body  of  Cabot  literature  is  that  which  reveals  the  mental  proc- 
esses by  which  the  eulogists  aiul  the  detractors  of  Sebastian 
Cabot  have  reached  their  conclusions.  Almost  equally  inter- 
esting are  the  arguments  and  the  secondary  infeiences  by 
which  every  writer  who  has  trusted  to  the  professed  authori- 
ties has  been  diawn  deeper  and  deei)er  into  the  toils  which 
await  the  writer  of  historical  essays  and  historical  addresses. 

Kamusio  in  Venice  printed  his  recollections  of  what  he  had 
once  heard  at  a  house-party  in  Verona,  where  a  chance 
acquaintance  told  of  a  conversation  with  Sebastian  Cal)ot 
many  years  before  iu  Seville.    Kamusio's  narration  does  not 


40 


AMERICAN    HISTOKICAL    ASSOCIATION. 


mention  John  Cabot;  hence,  argues  one  authority,  Sebastian 
was  guilty  of  unfilial  falseliood.  Henry  VIl  gave  John  Cabot  a 
charter  in  Jklarch,  1490,  and  seventeen  months  later  John  Cabot 
returned  to  London.  Bristol  ships  traded  to  leeland,  and 
theretbre,  says  an  Oxford  investigator,  Cabot  spent  the  winter 
of  141)0-97  in  Iceland.  Somewhere  it  is  stated  that  the  Cabot 
landfall  was  -,0°  north  latitude.  Hence  a  right  reverend  bishop 
declares  his  belief  that  Cabot  first  saw  the  soil  of  North  Amer- 
ica at  Cai)e  St.  John,  across  which  runs  the  line  of  50°  north, 
according  to  the  i)ertected  instruments  of  1897. 

And  much  more  of  the  same  sort  of  aigument  from  the  honest 
essays  of  men,  each  of  whom  fairly  deserves  the  serious  respect 
and  consideration  of  fellow-students— nuich  more  of  eciual  iu- 
terest  to  us  who  believe  that  an  historian  ought,  lirst  of  all,  to 
possess  common  sei.se  and  some  appreciation  of  how  men  and 
women  are  likely  to  act  and  think. 

I  want  to  plead  for  the  study  of  the  Cabot  question,  not  by 
you,  college  teachers,  whose  historical  training  and  developed 
instincts  miglit  be  so  much  more  usefully  employed,  but  by 
the  scores  of  young  men  and  women  who  come  to  you,  anxious 
to  study  history,  lilled  with  enthusiasm  for  the  subject  and 
confldent  of  their  graduated  ability  to  understand  what  older 
men  and  women  have  done  avA  are  doing.  I  Avish  that  every 
would  be.  historian  could  begin  his  ])rofessional  training  by 
preparing  for  an  examination  on  what  has  been  known  and 
what  might  be  known  about  John  and  Sebastian  Cabot.  The 
history  written  afterwards  would  be  marked  less  often  than 
now  by  blind  quotation  from  the  "Sources,"  and  le^s  by  illog- 
ical conclusions  maintained  by  baseless  iufereuces  aud  unwar- 
ranted assumptions. 


T 


NOTES. 

The  Ainericau  History  Leaflet  No.  IX,  Now  York,  Lovell,  May  1893, 
(10  cents),  contains  an  English  translation  of  the  important  sourct'S  of 
ill  formation  regariling  the  Calwt  voyage  of  1197.  These  were  reprinted, 
edited  hy  I'rofessor  Chauning  of  Harvard,  from  the  llakhivt  Society  vol- 
nme.  "The  Jonrnal  of  Columhns  and  Documents  relating  to  the  Voyages  of 
John  Cab.'.t  .md  Caspar  Cortereal."  edited  by  Sir  Clements  Markhaui,  Eon- 
don  181KJ.  The  narratives  and  documents  printed  by  llakluyt  in  15!li»  arc 
reprinted  in  Old  South  Leaflet  No.  37,  Huston,  Old  South  Church,  1895 
(5  cents),  with  a  note  by  the  editor,  Mr.  Edwin  D.  Mead. 

l\)r  the  student  of  the  methods  of  histori<al  investigation  an  invaluabl(« 
text-book  is  Mr.  Henry  Harrisse's  '•.lolin  Cabot  the  Discoverer  of  North 


T 


JOHN  CABOT  AND  THE  STUDY  OF  SOURCES.     41 

America,  and  Sebastian  liis  Son,"  Loudon,  15.  F.  Stevens,  1896.  This  work 
is  "a  laboratory  manual,  in  whicb  the  stutbuit  fluds  n-vealed  each  step  of 
the  processes  through  which  the  material  of  history  has  been  forced  in 
order  that  it  might  bo  made  to  render  up  the  truth  which  was  contained 
within  it."  Mr.  Harrisse  printed  iu  his  "  Jean  et  Sebastien  Cabot,"  Paris. 
Leroux,  1882,  the  original  texts— Italian,  Spanish,  Latin,  and  English— of 
the  important  sources  referring  to  the  Cabots.  A  comparison  of  these  two 
volumes  gives  a  most  suggestive  illustrati(m  of  the  processes  by  which  an 
insight  into  the  significance  of  historical  data  is  developed. 

The  chapter  by  Charles  Deane,  iu  Winsor,  "Narrative  and  Critical  His- 
tory of  America,"  Hostou,  Houghton  ^Milllin,  1884,  III.  1-58,  contains  a  com- 
prehensive survey  of  the  Cabot  sources  and  the  secondary  authorities. 
This  was  supplemented  by  Mr.  Winsor  in  a  paper,  "  Cabot  Controversies," 
Cambridge  18'J(),  read  before  the  :Mas8achu8etts  Historical  Association  in 
November  18U6,  and  printed  in  its  I'roceedings,  second  series,  XI.  156-1(5!). 
A  Cabot  bibliography,  by  G.  P.  Winship,  London,  H.  N.  Stevens,  189f, 
vill  contain  connucnts  upon  the  contents  and  the  value  of  the  books  which 
may  be  used  to  advantage  by  students  of  the  Cabot  (lucstious. 


